Lenovo Sends the Rugged ThinkPad X130e Laptop to School

Lenovo's new ThinkPad X130e features rubber bumpers to limit wear and tear for students and public-safety first responders.

Lenovo
is rolling out its new ThinkPad X130e with rugged features to survive harsh use
during a K-12 school day or bumpy ambulance ride.
Rugged features include a
rubber bumper in the top cover to absorb impact and reinforced and recessed
ports to limit abuse. In addition, a 33 percent stronger corner breaks the
device's impact when dropped from an angle, Lenovo reports. More durable
keyboard, hinges and bezel further boost the device's protection from rough
handling.

Laptops often take a beating
in schools, and CIOs have told Lenovo that ruggedness is important for PCs
built for the educational market, Michael Schmedlen, Lenovo's worldwide
director of education, told eWEEK. The
X130e goes beyond the eight military-spec tests that Lenovo conducts for its
ThinkPad notebooks, according to the company.

Unveiled Dec. 6, the X130e
is the follow-up to the X120e, which Lenovo announced
at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show. The new model features an 11.6-inch
screen, and users can choose among the Advanced Micro Devices Fusion E-300 and
E-450 as well as the Intel second-generation Core i3-2367M ULV processors.
The X130e is 1.29 inches
thick, and its 3.9-pound weight and 8.5 hours of battery life make the unit
suitable for the full day of school plus afterschool work, according to Lenovo.
In addition, High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) and VGA ports allow
students to connect the unit to a projector or TV for presentations.
Meanwhile, asset tags allow
schools to track inventory. "We'll randomize a number for our
customers," Schmedlen said. "We can put them on a cover, wherever
they fit-we'll do that service for customers at hundreds of schools around the
world."
Although the unit was built
for education, verticals such as health care are also showing interest in the
X130, Schmedlen said. Public-safety first responders can use the notebook to
maintain communication with other emergency personnel and doctors in the ER.
Providing rugged laptops for
people in mission-critical jobs is the goal, according to Schmedlen. "As
data increasingly drives these services, they really need a device on the front
line to access the data and communicate and run these mission-critical
apps," he said. "We're going to see these deployed in lots of
public-sector-type implementations more so than we first realized."
First responders could use
the X130e for triage, mapping and video communications between doctors in ER
and first responders in the ambulance.
"Having that
connectivity to the data center, to the dispatcher and to these other
applications can help them do their job more effectively, get to places faster
and understand how to diagnose situations more quickly," Schmedlen said.
In designing the X130e,
Lenovo was looking for a combination of high performance and low price in a
design that won't break when used by a student or first responder on the run.
Students can remain connected from class to class using Lenovo's Instant Resume
function, which allows them to keep their wireless connection for up to 99
minutes while the notebook is in sleep mode. When they move to another classroom,
they won't have to reconnect. The unit also features RapidBoot technology,
allowing it to boot in less than 20 seconds.
Lenovo will begin offering
the X130e Dec. 20.

Brian T. Horowitz is a freelance technology and health writer as well as a copy editor. Brian has worked on the tech beat since 1996 and covered health care IT and rugged mobile computing for eWEEK since 2010. He has contributed to more than 20 publications, including Computer Shopper, Fast Company, FOXNews.com, More, NYSE Magazine, Parents, ScientificAmerican.com, USA Weekend and Womansday.com, as well as other consumer and trade publications. Brian holds a B.A. from Hofstra University in New York.